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Monday, 4 January 2016

A Year in Review: Chris Bull's Top 25 Records of 2015

Chosen
by: Chris Bull

25.
Funerary/Ooze - 'Split'

The
2 tracks on offer from Funerary are gloriously heavy, dark and cold. 'Ascent'
begins with a simple yet ominously evil riff before the tortured banshee like
vocals breathe fire into the frostbitten air. Ooze are an altogether
different beast; their 4 tracks are very much from the Eyehategod school of
sludge but with harsher vocals and the occasional subtle time signature change. (click on the artwork for reviews)

There
are a lot of us that revel in both ends of the spectrum and everything in
between, and ‘Exercises in Futility’ is diverse enough to scratch a number of
itches all at once. This is musical showmanship woven into the very fabric of
conventional melodic black metal, and the results are top notch.

Gnaw Their Tongues has opened up a portal into hell and is dragging you
with him. Fear the worst. Expect to suffer. If you make it out alive, expect
some severe emotional trauma.

<a href="http://gnawtheirtongues.bandcamp.com/album/abyss-of-longing-throats">Abyss Of Longing Throats by GNAW THEIR TONGUES</a>

20.
Greenhorn 'Like Rows of Crooked Teeth'

That's
what's so brilliant about Greenhorn; as well as being seriously fucking heavy,
you get a history lesson thrown in too’

19.
Ambassador Gun - 'Tomb Of Broken Sleep'

Tomb
Of Broken Sleep' by Ambassador Gun may be one of the most intense and in your
face albums of 2015'. Heart of Corruption' shoots first and asks
questions later. A grinding d-beat masterclass, sounding at times like Converge
at their most furious but with extra HM-2 pedals

Fans of filthy sludge take note; this is an album you need to hear this
year. It's a definite improvement on previous album 'Deteriorate' as the band
have followed the left hand path towards the dark side.

<a href="http://argentorecords.bandcamp.com/album/circle-of-molesters">Circle Of Molesters by Grime</a>

Passages
of minimal melodic interplay give way to shards of dissonance and outbursts of
lean, razor-sharp riffing. The languid tempo of the drums reinforces the weight
of the music and together with the gnarly bass, act as the perfect backdrop for
intricate guitar interplay.

Standout
track ‘An Index of Air’ leans into emptiness with a rattling drone, an almost
imperceptibly off-time drum pulsing the intro before expanding out into
tidal-waves of anguished convulsions blended with blissed out droning black
that Deafheaven would burn gasoline-soaked churches to attain.’

If
there ever was such a thing as a perfect goodbye in music, Planks have surely
just come the closest. Musically, it's on a par with 'Funeral
Mouth'. In time it may prove to be a better album overall, right now it serves
as a painful reminder that Planks, as a band, rest in peace.

The
distortion kicks in and reduces everything to rubble. Stylistically, it's
blackened funeral doom; depressing and bleak in it's melody but inherently evil
and completely devastating. The vocals are growled from the bowels of the
underworld and screamed from the edge of oblivion. , Fórn have
created something perfect for the end of the year; let it smash your 2015 into
oblivion like a biblical flood. You can start anew in 2016.

It's
evident that Bagshaw has acquired a few new fuzz pedals since the last
Serpentine Path album as opening track 'Crown Of Burning Stars' is so
oppressive, fuzzy and dense that it made my teeth itch. After the backwards
speaking samples, the crunch of the guitar is incredible. The vocals are
classic Dorrian and the bands sound on a whole is somewhere between Serpentine
Path, 'Dopethrone' era Electric Wizard, early Cathedral and 'Misanthropic
Alchemy' era Ramesses. This for me is an album of the year contender,
the kind of thing you'd expect from 3 of the scene's most influential figures.
All expectation has been lived up to. Prepare to be blown away.

5.
High On Fire - ‘Luminiferous'

4.
Dragged Into Sunlight/Gnaw Their Tongues -
‘NV'

Alchemy
in The Subyear' drips with essence of evil. The guitars, drums and vocals
converge to a sharpened point which is hammered into your heart with the force
of the bass and allowed to carve your flesh, while the atmospherics drag your
soul into the depths of hell.

It's
very difficult to describe the music on this; such is the profound effect it's
had. Think Nails with Black Metal and Sludge influences and you'd be on the
right track. I can envisage a few end of year lists needing readjustment after
hearing this. A future classic? Time will tell.

'Cavern
Apothecary' was a glimpse into the potential this band had at that point. On
‘Tapered Limbs of a Human Star’, they've smashed through the glass ceiling and
surpassed the promise they showed. The fact that they're signed to Anthropic
Records is both a blessing and a curse; it makes those who know about the band
seem like part of a secret club and preserves their cult status. However, had
this been released on a label like Relapse, Profound Lore or Candlelight,
everyone would be losing their shit and proclaiming this as the best album
they've heard this year. It’s simply stunning.’

This
album is about discovery. This album is both darkness and light. This album is
a spirit animal that accompanies you on your own journey into your psyche.
Album of the year may be an understatement; it could be an overstatement,
whatever it is to you, to me, I have found God. His name is Steve Von Till.’

Band Submissions

To those bands who have recently issued their first demo or album via bandcamp and would like to be featured on our 666 Pack Review or considered for a full review or stream please contact Aaron via email including your EPK, band bio, album file or download code, including artwork.

To those bands issuing their sophomore record and so on and would like to be considered for a review or stream on the blog. Get in touch using the same address above

We will consider bands from any genre but exclusively stoner, sludge, doom, psych, post-metal, experimental, black-metal etc. (Whilst I would like to respond to every email, this is not always possible.) Thanks